Sachithra Senanayake is an offspinner who made his international debut for Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI in the series against South Africa in 2011-12. At the time of making his international debut, Senanayake had already taken 297 first-class wickets from 59 matches at a fantastic average of 20.50, and 107 List A wickets at an economy rate of 3.90. In the 2010-11 season, he was the fourth-highest wicket-taker in Tier A of the Premier League tournament, taking 45 wickets in eight matches at 15.17. He has also shown that he can handle the pressure of limited-over matches: in the 2011-12 Premier Limited-Over tournament, Sri Lanka's main one-day competition, he was the highest wicket-taker with 16 in six games at 11.18.

Senanayake's first foray into international cricket was short-lived though, and after several mediocre performances, he was released back into the domestic fold, where he continued to excel. He came back into international focus when he was bought for $650,000 by the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL franchise in 2013, largely owing to his reputation of possessing one of the best doosras in Sri Lanka.

It turned out to be a good year for him, as he also put in a strong showing in the first-class competition, made a Test debut for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in December, and also had an extended run in the one-day team. He had mixed fortunes in the ODI series against England in June 2014 - remarkable figures of 4 for 13 that skittled England out for 99 were offset by news of his action being reported as suspect. While the controversy didn't stop him from being at the centre of a tense series win for Sri Lanka - he was also involved in a Mankading incident against Jos Buttler in the decider - he was dealt a big blow when his action was found to be illegal in July.